Ladder



9 1945- v. M. FOWLER- 2,331,154

LADDER Filed May 24, 1944 be held against side rails of the Patented Aug 7, 1945 7 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE "LADDER Victor M. Fowler, Spolrane, wash. Application May 24, 1944, Serial No; 531,093 4 Claims. ((31.228-31) This invention relates to a ladder and it is one object of the invention to provide a ladder with a brace or'auxiliary leg which is carried by the side rail of the ladder and serves very efiectively to prevent the ladder from tilting transversely when in use.

"Another object of the invention is to provide the ladder with braces which extend from opposite sides thereof and are provided with feet at their lower ends which rest fiat on the ground and serve very effectively to prevent the auxiliary legs or braces from penetrating which they 'rest.

Another object of the invention is to so mount the auxiliary legs or braces that they may be firmly held extended for use and easily released and'inoved to retracted position where they will ladder and be out of the way.

Another object of the invention is to provide auxiliary legs adapted to be applied .to side rails turning out of the position shown in Fig. 2, and

the ground uponin which position it extends longitudinally of the leg. At the lower end of the inner leaf said position.

of a conventional form of ladder without making any changes in the structure of the ladder.

In the accompanying drawing: 4

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a step ladder equipped with the improved braces.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view on an enlarged scale, showing the manner in which the upper end of a brace is connected with the side rail of a ladder.

auxiliary legs or' Fig. 3 is a 'view of the lower end po rtion of the brace.

The ladder shown in Fig. 1, and indicated in general by the numeral I, is a step ladder of conit is to be understood that while the auxiliary legs or braces have been shown applied to a step lad der, they may with equal facility, be applied to straight-ladders of the singleor extension type.

The auxiliary legs or braces Imay be formed of wood or other suitable material and one is car- A plate is secured against the outer side face of each side rail by screws 2| and has its lower end bent to form a lip or keeper 22 having an opening 23 therein to receive the bill of hook IS. The upper end portion of the plate is slit longitudinally to form a tongue which is bent outwardly and downwardly to form a lip or hook 24 under which the tongue l3 engages and is fric-v tionally gripped when the leg I is in extended position for use. A. loop or eye 25 is carried by the plate 20 to loosely receive the hook of the J-bolt l4 and, referring to Fig. 2, it will be seen that when the lip or tongue 13 is disengaged from the hook 2 1, the auxiliary leg may be swung transversely to move its tongue 13 into or out of engagement with the hook I3. Therefore, when the tongue is out of engagement with the hook, the auxiliary leg may be moved toa position flat against the outer side face of the companion side rail 5 of the ladder and secured by a resilient clip 26. When the-auxiliary legs are fiat against the side rails of the ladder they will ried byeach side rail of the ladder, The auxiliary legs are of duplicate construction and each has its upper end portion adually reduced in thick- II and I2 united at theiruDPer ends to. form a.

tongue I3 which is curved longitudinally and probe out of the way and the ladder may be used as a ladder of conventional construction.

In order to prevent the lower ends of the auxiliary legs from penetrating the ground upon 'which they rest, there have been provided feet 21 which-are connected with the auxiliary legs by hinges 28.. The leaves ofthe hinges carry loops 29 and 30, and a'hook 3! is loosely carried by the loop 29 for movement into and out of engagement with the loop 30. When the hook is engaged with loop 30, the foot will be firmly held in low ered position, in which position it projects outwardly from the lower end of the auxiliary leg .and has such engagement with the ground that.

the auxiliary leg will be prevented from readily penetrating the ground. When the hook is released from the loop 30, the foot may be swung upwardly to Ioldedor inoperative position close against the outer side of the auxiliary leg, where it will be out of the way.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. A ladder having side rails and steps, auxiliary legs at opposite sides of the ladder, a shoe carried by the upper end of each leg and having a longitudinally curved tongue projecting upwardly therefrom, a plate mounted against the outer side face of each side rail and having a tongue at its upper end bent outwardly and downwardly to form a hook, a loop carried by and projecting outwardly from each side plate, a J-bolt for securing each shoe to the companion leg having its bill loosely engaged through the companion loop of the companion plate to mount the leg for movement from inoperative position close against the outer side of the companion rail to extended position in which the tongue fits under the companion hook in binding engagement therewith, and a hook carried by said shoe for removably engaging through an eye of the plate and holding the auxiliary leg extended.

2. A ladder having side rails and steps, bracing legs for said ladder at opposite sides thereof, plates carried by said side rails and having upper ends formed with tongues bent outwardly and downwardly to form hooks and lower ends bent outwardly to form keepers having openings therein, a loop extending outwardly from each plate in spaced relation to its upper and lower ends, a shoe for the upper end of each leg having inner and outer leaves straddling the leg and extending longitudinally thereof, said shoe having its upper end formed with a tongue projecting upwardly from the leg and curved longitudinally, a J-bolt passing through the leg and the inner and outer leaves of the shoe and having its bill loosely engaged through the loop of the companion plate to loosely mount the leg for movement from inoperative position close against the ladder to extended position in which the tongue of its shoe engages under the hook of the plate, the lower end of the inner leaf of the shoe being bent to form a lip, and a hook loosely carried by said lip for engaging through the keeper of the companion plate and holding the leg extended.

3. A ladder having side rails, auxiliary bracing legs at opposite sides of said ladder, plates carried by the side rails and each having an outwardly and downwardly extending hook at its upper end and an outstanding keeper at its lower end, a loop extending outwardly from each plate intermediate its ends, a shoe for the upper end of each leg having an upwardly extending tongue at its upper end for engaging under the hook of the companion plate when the leg is extended for use, fasteners securing said shoes to said legs and loosely engaged through said loops to mount the legs for movement into and out of position for use and a hook loosely connected with the lower end of the shoe for engaging the keeper of the companion plate and releasably holding the auxiliary leg in its extended position.

4. A ladder having side rails, auxiliary bracing legs at opposite sides of said ladder, mounting members carried by the side rails, each of said mounting members including a hook and a keeper and a loop between the same, a shoe for each leg having an upwardly extending tongue for engaging under the hook of the companion plate when the leg is in extended position, a fastener for securing the shoe to the leg having a hooked portion projecting from the inner side of the leg and loosely engaged through the loop of the companion plate to mount the leg for movement from a position close against the ladder to extended position, and a hook carriedby the shoe for detachably engaging the companion keeper and releasably holding the 40 leg extended. 

